http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13613487

 

Deadly E. coli infections still rising in Germany

Vegetables on sale in Munich, 31 May 11 The infections have made German shoppers wary of buying raw vegetables

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Mystery of 'sexist' E. coli strain

Q&A: Contaminated vegetables

Health Explained: What is E. coli?

 

German researchers are still trying to identify the source of a deadly E. coli outbreak after Spanish cucumbers were found not to have the lethal strain.

 

About 470 patients - mostly in north Germany - have the most severe and potentially fatal symptoms.

 

The E. coli has killed 16 people - 15 in Germany and one in Sweden.

 

The reprieve for the Spanish cucumber came too late for growers, who were forced to destroy tonnes of freshly harvested vegetables in southern Spain.

 

Shoppers in northern Germany are even boycotting locally grown vegetables, the German newspaper die Welt reports.

 

Germany's Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has advised people not to eat raw vegetables, especially in northern Germany.

 

Meanwhile, the Spanish government has demanded compensation for affected Spanish growers.

 

Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba threatened legal action.

 

"We may take action against the authorities, in this case Hamburg," he warned on Wednesday.

Europe-wide alert

 

In Germany, 1,169 have been affected by enterohaemorrhagic E. coli, also known as EHEC.

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We want Germany to provide, without any delay and distractions, the necessary information of its investigation”

 

Rosa Aguilar Spanish agriculture minister

 

Mystery of 'sexist' E. coli

Q&A: Contaminated vegetables

 

In many instances, the gastrointestinal infection has led to Haemolytic-uraemic Syndrome (HUS), which causes kidney problems and is potentially fatal.

 

The RKI has confirmed 470 cases of HUS in Germany - almost 100 more than the number reported on Tuesday.

 

About half of the HUS patients in Hamburg clinics have suffered neural disorders three to five days after falling ill, such as epileptic fits and slurred speech, die Welt reports.

 

German officials say their investigations indicate that people were probably infected by eating raw cucumbers, tomatoes or lettuce.

 

In Sweden, 41 people have the E. coli infection, of whom 15 have developed HUS.

 

Denmark has six HUS cases, the Netherlands three and the UK two.

 

A few infections have also been recorded in Austria, Spain and Switzerland.

 

The president of Spain's fruit and vegetable export federation said the crisis was costing Spanish exporters 200m euros (£174m) a week.

 

Asked which countries had stopped buying Spanish produce, Jorge Brotons was quoted as telling a news conference: "Almost all Europe. There is a domino effect on all vegetables and fruits."

 

Health authorities across Europe have advised citizens to wash fruit and vegetables thoroughly, to do the same with all cutlery and plates, and to wash their hands before meals.

 

German authorities initially pointed to organic cucumbers from Spain.

 

But Spain rejected the accusation. Spanish Agriculture Minister Rosa Aguilar said: "We are disappointed by the way Germany handles the situation."

 

"We want Germany to provide, without any delay and distractions, the necessary information of its investigation so that the European Union can know what is causing the E.coli outbreak."

 

Speaking at an EU meeting in Hungary, she also said the issue should be treated as a "common problem" and that there should be compensation for Spanish and other European producers affected.

 

The Netherlands has also said it will ask for compensation.

 

Several countries have taken steps to curtail the outbreak, such as banning cucumber imports and removing the vegetables from sale.

 

It is getting slighty creepy.....I am not the one to panic though....though it'd feel a bit more comfortable if we found out what the source of the infections is....

 

and then on the other hand I feel sorry for the farmers in Germany and other countries (e.g. Spain)

I'm kind of glad that I'm not in Germany right now and I hope this will be over when I return. :uhoh:

 

So far I haven't heard anything from my family or friends about this though, so I guess they were all lucky.

....esp. since it is worst in the North of Germany....:blank:

All my (important) family is in the north. D:

So if I go to Germany where and what do I eat :uhoh:

we can't exactly tell you Ricardo......most cases are in the North of the country esp. in Hamburg....nobody can tell you what you can eat and what you can't eat....you shall avoid raw fruit and vegetables like tomatoes, lettuces and cucumber...but nobody knows where it is coming from...and you shall take care of Hygiene of course...

 

you are going to Germany?

Damn, I was looking forward to eating out in Germany and Denmark this summer.

I guess Currywurst and Pølser might be safe. Just don't eat anything uncooked and bring a bottle of desinfection-spray for your hands.

 

With about 500 new cases in the last 24 hours alone, I think it's time to get hysterical.

looks like they won't be able to find the source of the infections anytime soon, which means this could go on forever. yay.

So if I go to Germany where and what do I eat :uhoh:

 

Kebabs, of course!;)

Wash your salads British families are told as seven in UK are struck down by killer E.coli outbreak

 

 

By Sean Poulter

 

Last updated at 12:25 PM on 2nd June 2011

 

 

 

• More than 1,500 ill as outbreak spreads across the continent
  
• World Health Organisation say E.coli is an unknown mutant strain
  

Health experts are warning families to wash their salad vegetables thoroughly after seven people in the UK were struck down with the food bug that has claimed 17 lives across Europe.

 

Hundreds have fallen ill in recent days in Germany, which is at the centre of the E.coli outbreak.

 

Of the UK cases, three are British residents who recently traveled to Germany, while four are Germans who were visiting England when they became ill.

 

 

Mystery outbreak: German scientists have still to pinpoint the source of the outbreak after earlier blaming Spanish cucumbers

 

Three of them have developed the potentially deadly complication of haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS).

 

E. COLI OUTBREAK

 

What is E. coli?

Escherichia coli is a type of bacteria found in the intestines of many animals. Some strains can cause illness in people.

 

Usually people suffer from diarrhoea which settles within a week. However some strains can cause serious kidney and blood complications, such as haemolytic-uraemic syndrome (HUS).

 

What is HUS?

It is a serious disorder that usually occurs when an infection, usually E. coli, in the digestive system produces toxic substances that can get into the blood stream and cause kidney disease.

Bloody diarrhoea is often an early symptom.

 

It is most common in children and the elderly.

Most (98%) people recover but treatment may include dialysis and blood transfusions.

 

Where does the E.coli bacteria come from?

Most people carry harmless strains of E. coli in their intestine. Both these and the strains that cause diarrhoea come from contaminated food or water. It can also be passed from animals to people and person-to-person through hand to mouth.

 

What has caused the outbreak in Germany?

The World Health Organisation said it is a new mutant strain of two types of E.coli bacteria that has never been seen before.

 

It is not known how salad produce came to be contaminated in the outbreak in Germany.

 

How do you stop it spreading?

Good hygiene is very important in preventing person-to person spread and small children should be supervised with hand washing after using the toilet and before eating.

It is always advisable to wash fruits and vegetables before you eat them. Peeling or cooking fruit and vegetables can also remove germs.

HPA

 

 

 

The victims either went to A&E, NHS walk-in centres or had been to their GP.

There has been 13 official reported deaths in Germany and one death in Sweden, while infections have also been reported in the UK, Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.

 

Initial reports from Germany linked the outbreak to E.coli contamination of organic cucumbers imported from Spain.

 

As a result, Spain stopped exports and destroyed thousands of tons of cucumbers.

 

But the Germans have now admitted they were wrong and officials are making desperate efforts to establish the source.

 

Although experts say the main source has been contaminated food, they don’t know what food is causing the outbreak. The bug can also be spread by coming into contact with those who are ill.

 

Rolf Stahl, a kidney specialist treating victims in Hamburg, said: ‘The situation is deteriorating dramatically for our patients, and the worst thing is that we don’t know what’s causing it.’

Russia today banned all vegetable imports from the EU in an attempt to prevent the outbreak from crossing its borders.

Lyubov Voropayeva, from the Russian Agency for the Supervision of Consumer Rights, said that the ban has been imposed immediately for no definite period of time.

 

 

The UK’s Food Standards Agency said today it has ‘found no evidence’ that contaminated salad has been sold here.

 

But Dr Dilys Morgan from the HPA added: 'The HPA continues to monitor the situation very carefully and we are working with the authorities in Germany and with our counterparts across Europe as to the cause of the outbreak.'

The HPA said people travelling to Germany should avoid eating raw tomatoes, cucumbers and leafy salad until further notice.

 

A leading EU scientist warned yesterday that the outbreak is on a scale never seen before in Europe.

 

Spreading: Scientists prepare a red pepper for E.coli testing , in Brno, Czech Republic. It is the latest European country to report an outbreak

 

Denis Coulombier, head of surveillance and response for the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, said experts are shocked at the number of cases, which point to a ‘huge contamination’ probably of vegetables, at some point in the food chain.

 

‘It’s certainly something we haven’t seen before in the EU and probably in the world,’ he said.

 

‘Such a large outbreak with so many severe cases has never been seen in the past.’

 

Salad produce remains the most likely cause for the outbreak.

The HPA added: ‘It is a good idea to wash fruit and vegetables before you eat them to ensure that they are clean, and to help remove germs that might be on the outside.’

Concerns: John Dalli, the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, gives a press briefing on E. coli in Brussels

 

E.coli contamination is normally associated with animal and human faeces, which may have contaminated the water used to irrigate crops in Spain.

 

One other possibility is that the produce could have been washed with contaminated water at same point between leaving the fields and glasshouses and reaching stores.

Normally, E.coli poisoning would lead to a stomach upset, but some rare strains can trigger potentially fatal complications.

 

More than 350 people so far have been struck down by hemolytic-uremic syndrome in which the E.coli infection attacks the kidneys. HUS affects the blood, kidneys and, in severe cases, the central nervous system.

Does cooking everything kill the E. Coli bacteria? I'm not well-versed in biology.

 

That seems like the simple solution until they can get this figured out.

Ten countries have it now... it's also been reported in the USA.

 

A new strain from the E. Coli bacteria.

I guess Currywurst and Pølser might be safe. Just don't eat anything uncooked and bring a bottle of desinfection-spray for your hands.

 

With about 500 new cases in the last 24 hours alone, I think it's time to get hysterical.

 

Basically yeah.

If it's Enterohemorrhagic E. coli omg </3

Washing and desinfecting your veggies is a common-sense and daily hygiene measure.

we can't exactly tell you Ricardo......most cases are in the North of the country esp. in Hamburg....nobody can tell you what you can eat and what you can't eat....you shall avoid raw fruit and vegetables like tomatoes, lettuces and cucumber...but nobody knows where it is coming from...and you shall take care of Hygiene of course...

 

you are going to Germany?

 

Some days in Bavaria and Schwarzwald

(Reuters) - Scientists probing the deadly E. coli strain in Europe are finding the bacteria combines a highly poisonous, but common, toxin with a rarely seen "glue" that binds it to a patient's intestines.

It may take months for the global team of researchers to fully understand the characteristics of the bacteria that has killed at least 17 people in Europe and sickened 1,500. But they fear this E. coli strain is the most toxic yet to hit a human population.

 

This class has the ability to stick to intestinal walls where it pumps out toxins, causing diarrhea and vomiting. In severe cases, it causes hemolytic uremic syndrome or HUS, attacking the kidneys and causing coma, seizure and stroke.

 

The World Health Organization has confirmed that the strain "has never been isolated from patients before," and said the bacteria had likely acquired some extra genes that may make it especially deadly.

 

The source of the outbreak is unknown, but scientists say it is highly likely to have originated in contaminated vegetables or salad in Germany.

 

E.coli infections are spread by consuming even miniscule particles of feces of infected animals or humans, often via contaminated food or water.

 

Scientists at the Beijing Genomics Institute in Shenzhen city in southern China, who have sequenced the genome of the strain, also noted that the strain is highly resistant to several classes of antibiotics.

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/02/us-ecoli-strain-idUSTRE7517MT20110602

Oh man. :uhoh:

And this is right after watching the movie Outbreak. :|

 

But seriously, I hope they find antibiotics that work or else this could get very serious. :uhoh2:

This class has the ability to stick to intestinal walls where it pumps out toxins, causing diarrhea and vomiting. In severe cases, it causes hemolytic uremic syndrome or HUS, attacking the kidneys and causing coma, seizure and stroke.

 

Ah, it is EHEC. Thanks Faust.

Eh, apparently they're using a drug that is used to treat a certain haematologic disease.

German bean sprouts blamed for E.Coli outbreak as hospitals face running out of beds under pressure

 

 

By Vanessa Allen and Allan Hall

 

Last updated at 1:11 AM on 6th June 2011

 

 

Daniel Bahr said the situation in Germany's hospitals is 'intense'

 

Beansprouts were yesterday blamed for the spread of the mutant E.coli bug as the death toll rose to 22.

 

Restaurants linked to the outbreak took delivery of the vegetable from north-east Germany just before customers began falling ill, health officials said.

 

At least 2,153 people have been struck down by the food poisoning bug, including 11 in Britain, and it has become the deadliest E.coli outbreak in modern history.

 

Health tests have yet to provide definitive evidence that the sprouts are the source of the infection, but officials in Germany said they were the ‘most convincing’ cause. Beansprouts have previously been linked to other outbreaks of E.coli and salmonella.

 

Government agencies warned consumers not to eat any type of sprouted seed grown in Lower Saxony. Popular sprouts include beansprouts, cress and alfalfa. A previous warning not to eat raw tomatoes, cucumbers or salad in Germany was kept in place as a precaution.

Meanwhile German health services may run out of beds as the current E.coli outbreak puts hospitals under 'intense' pressure, a minister earlier admitted.

Daniel Bahr told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that 'the situtation in the hospitals is intense' and that clinics outside of Hamburg and northern Germany - the epicentre of the outbreak - should take in patients.

 

 

Microbiological testing will continue as scientists try to prove if the sprouts are to blame.

 

Last night it was not clear if any major British supermarkets stocked German beansprouts, but the absence of any cases of E.coli among Britons – other than those who had travelled to Germany – indicates the infected produce was not imported into the UK.

 

A spokesman for Sainsbury’s said: ‘We definitely don’t have any beansprouts from Germany on our shelves.’

 

Hospitals in northern Germany are struggling to cope with the amount of people struck down by E.coli

 

 

Gert Lindemann, agriculture minister in Lower Saxony, said a company in the Uelzen region had been shut down while further tests were carried out.

 

He said: ‘There was a very clear trail [to this company] as the source of the infection. It is the most convincing source for the E.coli illnesses.’

 

Mr Lindemann said beansprouts were the most likely source of the contagion, but added that infected people could also have eaten other types of sprouted seed from the same farm.

 

The infected farm is in the town of Bienenbuettel, 40 miles south of Hamburg, and delivered produce to restaurants in five northern states – Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Hesse and Lower Saxony. It was not named but has been shut down and its produce has been recalled.

 

At least one worker at the farm was infected with the E.coli bacteria, Mr Lindemann said.

 

Suspicion has fallen on bean sprouts as the source of the bacterial outbreak which has killed 22 people across Europe

 

Eighteen types of sprout produced at the farm were under suspicion, including sprouts from different types of beans, broccoli, peas, chickpeas, garlic, lentils and radishes.

 

Berlin had previously blamed Spanish cucumbers for the outbreak, which has killed 21 people in Germany and one person in Sweden.

 

Scientists have warned that bacteria can get inside beansprouts, meaning that washing them might not be enough to remove the infection.

 

Medical experts have been shocked by the scale of the current outbreak, which has been caused by a virulent new mutant form of the E.coli bug.

 

Authorities said 17 victims had fallen ill after eating together at a restaurant called Kartoffelkeller – meaning Potato Cellar – in Lubeck.

 

Scientists believe the restaurant followed correct hygiene procedures but could have used infected vegetables. One 48-year-old woman in the group died from the infection.

 

Enlarge

 

 

 

Wow, I just read an article on CNN and someone commented on it and actually said it happened because the Germans lack personal hygiene. Uhm...

yes that's the reason....the germans should consider this instead of searching for the source of it like crazy....hm

Let's all take a shower together and then we're cured. :awesome:

power-shower-orgy:wink3:

 

 

(Ok I am not turning a serious thread into a pervy thread now...:uhoh:)

Just stay away from Germans..forever D:

yeah stay away from those dirty germansD: